The Metro-North Railroad has released a “100-day plan” to boost safety, service and communications with customers after a litany of deadly crises last year.
The initiatives include working with labor groups to set up an anonymous employee reporting system for close calls on the railroad, two new units to investigate accidents and analyze data, and a reorganization of the maintenance department.
The railroad, which also has faced a wave of complaints from customers over worsening performance after track-maintenance and previous safety fixes, promised to create a more dependable schedule for the New Haven line and adjust the Harlem and Hudson Line schedules, too.
It also plans to finalize its track-maintenance program for 2014, which includes finishing Bronx track work by March 31.
Metro-North said it will improve how it gets train arrival information to riders — and plans to add monitors showing the information at nine new stations, including Bronxville, Hartsdale and Spuyten Duyvil.
The railroad will also ramp up communication with riders at Grand Central Terminal when service is disrupted — and it will include an emergency-response team of workers that can answer customer questions.
Jim Cameron, the head of the Connecticut riders’ advocacy group Commuter Action Group, praised the proposals — but said that ultimately, actions speak louder than words.
“[Metro-North President Joseph] Giulietti is to be commended for coming up with a comprehensive list so quickly,” Cameron said. “He has clearly enumerated the problems. Now, he has to fix them. Any poll of commuters could have easily come up with a ‘to-do list,’ but he has to execute it and the meter is ticking.”
Giulietti, who replaced railroad boss Howard Permut earlier this year, had met with Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy on Feb. 17 and promised to create the 100-day plan.
Malloy and other Connecticut officials have been particularly critical of the railroad. Connecticut state Sen. Toni Boucher has gone so far as to suggest that the state get a new company to run the rail system.
“This plan requires returning to the basics of good railroading,” Malloy wrote in a letter to Giulietti. “First and foremost, however, we must rebuild a culture of safety at Metro-North to serve as the railroad’s unshakeable foundation.”
In December, a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx, killing four people — after a year that included a derailment in Bridgeport and the death of a veteran track foreman.